The HBO series "Sharp Objects" benefits from one hell of a blunt object: the hammer of the gods that is Led Zeppelin, whose music recurs throughout all eight episodes. Director Jean-Marc Vallée ("Big Little Lies," "Wild") scored a coup by licensing four Zeppelin tracks for the Amy Adams-led mystery...

Netflix’s promotional tagline is “See what’s next” — a nod to the numerous titles that are instantly available to watch at the click of a remote. For the streaming entertainment giant, “what’s next” is changing in dramatic ways. While it once depended almost exclusively on old licensed titles from...

More than a workplace comedy about a small ad agency, Comedy Central’s “Detroiters” is an ode to the doofy friendship between Sam Richardson and Tim Robinson, who are the show’s co-creators and co-stars and real-life best buds. “We’re just a couple of dum-dums who love each other so much,” Richardson...

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Ah, "Paradise." The Bachelor Nation spinoff is often derided as the trashier cousin of "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," where castoff contestants from those shows are deposited at a Mexican resort, sans air-conditioning, to find love (aka get drunk, make out with one another and construct...

A former reality TV star writes a salacious tell-all book about working in the Trump White House, and secretly records conversations on her way out the door? Obviously, late-night talk show hosts are going to have a field day. On Monday night, the comedians had plenty to say (and mock) about Omarosa...

Samantha McKinnon was not familiar with “Are You the One?” when she got a call about joining the cast of the MTV matchmaking series. Turns out, one of McKinnon’s friends had submitted her information to producers without telling her. “I think maybe she just really wanted to be on it, but she’s...

Eight months pregnant and due to deliver a baby boy shortly after the Emmys, Yvonne Strahovski has heard every variation of the “Handmaid’s Tale” catchphrase “blessed be the fruit” these past few weeks. Playing Serena Joy Waterford, the sometimes sympathetic, often mad and monstrous wife using...

To host this year’s Emmy ceremony, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences tapped “Saturday Night Live” wunderkinder Michael Che and Colin Jost (OK, they’re in their mid-30s but look younger). Che and Jost are co-hosts of the venerable “Weekend Update” segment of the sketch comedy and are also...

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Vicki Barbolak’s audition for the latest season of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” lasted two minutes. And it only took the Oceanside comedian 22 years to get there. That two minutes of stand-up — a wry whirlwind that covered the evils of uncomfortable undergarments, the unreasonable rules governing...

If you're upset that your favorite "Game of Thrones" character came to an untimely demise, you can blame "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R.Tolkien. That's what inspired George R.R. Martin, author of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels that form the basis for the hit HBO show. Martin cited Tolkien's...

HBO's "Insecure" returned Sunday night with an opening scene that had Team Daniel cheering - that is, until they realized Daniel's lady friend was decidedly not Issa. Awkward. But remember, this is why we're here. The Season 3 premiere, written by Issa Rae and directed by showrunner Prentice Penny,...

Plain White T’s frontman Tom Higgenson wrote “Hey There Delilah” after meeting his dream girl in Chicago, and he told the Tribune it would be “super cool” to film a TV project inspired by the song here. “I was talking to a buddy of mine just a couple weeks ago. You know, summer in Chicago is just...

The emotions were running high on “Talking Dead” Sunday night. The episode marked Chris Hardwick’s return to AMC following allegations of abuse, and the host took some time at the start of the show to thank his fans for their support. “Normally I recap the show we’re about to talk about here, but...

The Teen Choice Awards may have a panda mascot named "Choicey" who runs around and ambushes people with surfboard trophies (really), but plenty of stars take it very seriously. Here are some of the highlights from Sunday night's ceremony on Fox, hosted by Nick Cannon and Vine star Lele Pons: 1)...

Reality is getting in the way of Kristin Cavallari’s reality show. “Very Cavallari” scenes did not happen in the order they are being shown on TV, a Tribune review of social media postings found. Perhaps the team behind “Very Cavallari” is trying to keep up with the Kardashians, who have made headlines...

Nina Metz and Darcel Rockett recap and discuss the second season of TNT’s “Claws,” which wrapped this week Note: Spoilers ahead The finale may be titled “Breezy” — talk about an understatement! — but Desna’s fairy tale wedding is as stormy as it gets. And leaves behind a body count. 1. Florida’s...

Playing an ambitious MI5 officer obsessed with the murderer she’s tracking, Sandra Oh — born in Canada to Korean immigrant parents — recently made history, becoming the first woman of Asian descent to earn an Emmy nomination for lead actress in a drama series for her work on “Killing Eve.” Calling...

Some of the most lovable characters on television are the ones we love to hate. Case in point: the despicable and cruel socialite Roman Roy, played with demonic glee by Kieran Culkin on HBO’s family dynasty series “Succession.” From the time he was a boy, the 35-year-old Culkin has made a career...

Matt Groening's new series, "Disenchantment," seeks to do for fantasy what "The Simpsons" did for family sitcoms -- generate laughs by pushing a genre to its limits. As Groening's biggest hit vamped off of TV's traditional families by depicting a father who wasn't just clueless but a boor, so does...

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" is an old-school, old-fashioned entertainment, a romantic drama bursting with scenic vistas and earnest charm that contains just enough mystery to keep us involved. In fact, as efficiently directed by the veteran Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and...

Fans of the "Chicago" franchise on NBC will see some new faces when the three shows return for new seasons on Sept. 26. The Tribune takes a look at the guest stars and recurring characters that are set to appear on the new seasons of "Chicago Fire," "Chicago Med" and "Chicago P.D." Filming for...

“Game of Thrones” is back. “The Americans” is departing. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus is sadly absent. How will these changes affect this year’s drama and comedy series races? Here’s a set of early predictions for the Sept. 17 ceremony, which I’ll update the week of the ceremony. DRAMA SERIES “The Americans”...

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The "mad divorcee" of the Upper West Side is back. Amazon has just released the trailer for the Emmy-nominated comedy's second season, and Midge Maisel -- newly single, but as irreverent as ever -- isn't slowing down one beat. The trailer begins with a mother-daughter conversation at a salon, side-by-side...

Weeks before "Insatiable" dropped on Netflix, there were petitions calling for its cancelation. The show's trailer focused on the stark before and after life of Patty (Debby Ryan), a teen who loses seventy pounds after her jaw gets wired shut and has to re-navigate her life as a beauty queen. Many...

Warning: Spoilers ahead Andersonville contestant Emily Hallock was targeted again on “MasterChef” — and she rose to the challenge again on Wednesday’s episode. Hallock, a food service research analyst from Wisconsin, and the 12 other home cooks first faced a “mystery box” challenge to make a deep-fried...

When Dewayne Perkins joined the writing staff of the weekly Netflix show “The Break with Michelle Wolf” back in March, one of his first assignments was to help write material for Wolf’s appearance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. It’s a mostly behind-the-scenes job for now, but Perkins...

"Hey there, Delilah, what's it like in New York City?" More than a decade ago, that single question - the opening line of the Grammy-nominated love song "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's - captivated millions of people and had them all asking the same things: Who is Delilah? Is she real?...

Former “Today” co-host Tamron Hall has signed a deal to develop and host a new daytime talk show for Disney/ABC, the company announced Wednesday. The program is to be syndicated on TV stations starting in fall 2019. Hall had been a popular fixture for years at NBC News, where she anchored a daily...

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It's rare for former stars of ABC's Bachelor franchise to criticize the show that made them famous. But on Tuesday, last season's "Bachelorette" star Rachel Lindsay revealed that she was not pleased about how Becca Kufrin's season finale played out compared with hers. "This might be the realest...

Elisabeth Moss began her summer break from “The Handmaid’s Tale” planning to shoot two movies, unpack the 15 boxes she shipped home from Toronto and, maybe, just maybe, finally buy a rug for her one-bedroom New York apartment. Flash forward a couple of months: Moss has finished the two films —...

A Florida crime noir fueled by outrageous action, dazzling colors and ride-or-die loyalty, TNT’s “Claws” — closing out its second season this Sunday — centers on a sisterhood of nail technicians (turned-outlaws) led by Niecy Nash’s shot-caller in the making. Last year, her character was laundering...

There are days when the news reads like Mad Libs. Today is one of those days: HGTV outbid Lance Bass for the "Brady Bunch" house. The Los Angeles property, whose exterior appeared in the show, returned to the market last month after almost 50 years. "I am excited to share that HGTV is the winning...

During "The Bachelorette" season finale on Monday night, host Chris Harrison informed the audience that the episode would include "an absolutely devastating heartbreak, the likes of which we have never really witnessed before on this show," and "a breakup so painful, to be honest, it's a little...

People have been going bananas for Chicago grocer Joe Amabile — even though he only said a few words on “The Bachelorette” Season 14 premiere before Becca Kufrin sent him packing. The West Town resident gets a fresh start on Season 5 of “Bachelor in Paradise,” which is scheduled to premiere at...

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"Homeland" is officially ending after eight seasons. Showtime president and CEO David Nevinsmade the announcement at the TCA summer press tour on Monday, noting that "Alex [Gansa] and Claire [Danes] both started talking about it last season." Showtime programming president Gary Levine also noted...

Things will look and feel different in more ways than one when “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” returns for its final season. Co-creators Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna and some cast members of the CW’s cult favorite musical dramedy gathered Monday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Beverly...

The cast and producers of CW's new "Charmed" are defending the reboot as a story for its time. The drama series about three young half-sisters who are witches will confront modern issues including the MeToo movement, executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman told a TV critics' meeting Monday. The...

The world is officially ending. FX took to Twitter Monday to debut a new teaser trailer for the eighth chapter of "American Horror Story," titled "Apocalypse." True to "AHS" form, the teaser features an array of disturbing images, starting with an hourglass womb incubating a demonic infant, followed...

In between filming scenes for Season 9 last week, the “Shameless” cast members found some time to enjoy Chicago. Stars Shanola Hampton, Cameron Monaghan, Jeremy Allen White and Ethan Cutkosky were on hand to throw out the first pitch and sing the seventh-inning stretch at Sunday’s Cubs game at...

Recently Reese Witherspoon posed a question to her 2.3-million Twitter followers: “Why aren’t there more romantic movies?!??!” Like many of her contemporaries — Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Lopez — Witherspoon built a career starring in romantic comedies like “Sweet Home Alabama” and...